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NewsTranscript
00:00Good evening, I'm William Brangham.
00:06Amna Nawaz and Jeff Bennett are away.
00:08On the NewsHour tonight, the rescissions bill goes back to the House for a final vote.
00:13We look at the impact on public broadcasting.
00:16This is such an American institution trusted by people across political divides.
00:21And what's so short-sighted about it, I think, is that this affects mostly rural communities.
00:27We speak to the president of Planned Parenthood to discuss the fallout of funding cuts to that organization.
00:34Planned Parenthood is a part of the public health infrastructure.
00:38We are a safety net of safety nets.
00:40And amid a violent week in Syria, we examine the state of that fragile new nation.
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02:02This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers,
02:07from viewers like you.
02:13This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
02:19This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
02:34Welcome to the NewsHour.
02:39The clock is ticking for Congress to claw back more than $9 billion of federal funding for programs including foreign aid and public media.
02:49Tomorrow is the final deadline for the House to pass the so-called rescissions package, which is a priority for President Trump.
02:56Lisa Desjardins joins me now with the latest.
03:00Lisa, bring us up to speed where this rescissions bill is.
03:03Well, the House is preparing to vote.
03:05My reporting is it will happen very late tonight or perhaps in the early morning hours.
03:10This is the final vote needed to pass these immediate cuts.
03:13And my reporting is that the votes are in fact there.
03:17Those who have opposed this in the past told me today that now they are more or less on board.
03:22There may still be a few no Republican votes, but this is on track to pass later tonight.
03:26Now, it should go without saying this is a major victory for President Trump and his ability to sway Congress.
03:32Many Republicans did not want to vote on this, thought this was really not worth their time.
03:37It's not really a lot of money in the scheme of the whole federal budget.
03:41And many of them privately would have voted no if it was a secret ballot vote.
03:45But this is on track to pass in the next hours.
03:49Given that we've talked about this quite a bit over the last few weeks, this is going to have some impacts.
03:54Let's talk about those impacts on public broadcasting.
03:57Right. The public broadcasting portion is one point one billion dollars.
04:01It's the smaller portion, but it is the only portion where funding is completely eliminated.
04:07All of the funding for public broadcasting for the next two years is eliminated here.
04:11Very significant. Now, NPR has their CEO has put out a statement saying this is a risk to public safety because of potential cuts to emergency broadcasts, for example.
04:21And also PBS's CEO Paula Kruger put out a statement today as well.
04:25She wrote these cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas.
04:34We put together a map using Corporation of Public Broadcasting data of the rural stations most at risk.
04:40These are stations around the country where they they depend on 40 percent or more of their funding from the federal government.
04:47These are the ones most at risk. You see a large number of them in Alaska, but they are all over the country, notably not on the eastern seaboard, really not in major cities.
04:56These are the rural areas that are in trouble or could have trouble.
04:59What will happen with these stations? Well, it is going to be a months long progress.
05:03I know a lot of our viewers are watching on those stations right now, and each station will have to sort out how they move forward, what their needs are.
05:11Do they depend more on their viewers? Do they work together with other stations? Can they survive this?
05:17It is a critical historical moment for stations that have been around for generations.
05:21Now, there is one other piece of reporting I want to raise.
05:24There was a side deal that I have reporting on made by Don Bacon of Nebraska, who voted yes, ultimately, there is for this deal that had to do with PBS funding.
05:35Now, here's what he told me earlier this month about the side deal.
05:39He wrote, he said, quote, I got a commitment to make sure PBS is funded this year from Speaker Johnson, and I trust the speaker.
05:47That commitment supposedly is to take place in September.
05:50But there are real questions about how that works.
05:52He again told me today they did trust the speaker.
05:54We will have to see.
05:57Public media, separately, there's also, as you've reported quite a bit, so much about foreign aid in this bill.
06:03You did report earlier this week how PEPFAR, the HIV-AIDS program, was pulled out of that, but there are still major cuts for foreign aid.
06:10Tell us about that.
06:11Right.
06:11Those cuts to PEPFAR, those are off the table now.
06:14That program will survive completely intact right now.
06:17But let's take a look at those other cuts in foreign aid.
06:21Now, $4 billion of that is economic and democratic programs, really fostering democracy in other countries, as well as the economies of countries where the United States is worried about potential economic or political collapse.
06:35$800 million is for shelter, water needs, sanitation, and also family reunification.
06:41$500 million for countries facing natural disasters.
06:44Again, some of those basic needs.
06:46So, while we've been talking about PEPFAR and HIV, these are also day-to-day living needs, and this is money that will be cut off as soon as the president signs this bill.
06:55There are longer-term implications to this, right?
06:59Yes, there are significant longer-term implications, and I'm very happy to talk about them, because what this is doing is it is setting in motion an entirely new way of funding, using government's funding power.
07:10We expect, as soon as this is signed, maybe more rescissions offers from the president, more requests.
07:17And what this does is all of the funding that is being cut here was passed by Congress with 60 votes in the Senate, but it's being cut by just over 50 votes.
07:27So, it's changing the dynamic so that the White House has the funding power.
07:31The Senate's 60-vote margin really is not as important anymore.
07:35So, what the president can do here is just continue to cut, cut, cut, no matter what Congress spends.
07:41It is yet another shift toward presidential power.
07:44These huge titanic developments here.
07:47One other piece of news from Capitol Hill today.
07:49The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a nominee to a very controversial nominee to a very important court.
07:56Update us on that.
07:57That's right.
07:57We've covered it here before.
07:59This is Emil Bovey.
08:00He right now is the number three official at the Department of Justice.
08:03He's in his 40s.
08:04He has a long history.
08:05He has been a clerk in court.
08:07A prosecutor.
08:08Also, was a defense attorney for President Donald Trump.
08:11A lot of controversy over his demeanor, but also over his role specifically in helping fire prosecutors who went after President Trump in the January 6th case, as well as his role in that plea deal with the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, the dropping of charges there.
08:27Now, the controversy really bubbled up today in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans moved forward his nomination.
08:35But Democrats wanted more time to debate.
08:37And so they acted in protest today in that committee.
08:40There you see they stood up because they wanted more time to talk about this nominee, and they left the room in protest.
08:46Now, there was some debate a little bit in committee day, and there was a back and forth over who is the problem here?
08:53Is it Democrats for opposing this nominee, or is it Republicans for pushing him forward?
08:59This is us simply trying to rush through one of the most controversial nominees we've had under this presidential administration.
09:08Sir, God bless America.
09:09You are a good man.
09:11You are a decent man.
09:12Why are you doing this?
09:13What is Donald Trump saying to you that are making you do something which is violating the decorum of this committee?
09:20The vicious partisan attacks and obstruction of nominees that we've seen from Democrats this Congress has to stop.
09:31One day, roles will reverse again.
09:35And my colleagues will want the same fairness for nominees of their president that they refuse to extend to President Trump's nominees.
09:45Quickly, I want to play the sound of a judge who signed a letter who expressed why he's concerned about this.
09:50Mr. Bovee has great experience as a lawyer.
09:57However, implicit in his resume is that he engaged in some questionable ethical behavior as a prosecutor, including being sanctioned by a judge.
10:12He has been the architect of a purge in the Department of Justice, where he has systematically fired career prosecutors who were engaged in the January 6th prosecution.
10:24Bovee told senators, though, that's a wildly inaccurate representation of him, and he's just an attorney.
10:29He is on track to get this important nomination and confirmation.
10:33Lisa, thank you so much.
10:35You're welcome.
10:42We begin the day's other headlines with a stunning development in the Breonna Taylor case.
10:52The Justice Department is recommending a one-day sentence for Brett Hankison, the former Kentucky police officer who was convicted in the 2020 killing of Ms. Taylor during a botched home raid.
11:03Her death sparked nationwide protests against racial injustice.
11:07Last year, a jury convicted Hankison of violating Taylor's civil rights when he fired several shots through her window.
11:16DOJ officials say his prosecution was excessive and point out that he did not hit or injure anyone.
11:22Hankison will be sentenced next week and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
11:27The White House now offered a rare window into President Trump's health today, saying he'd undergone testing for mild swelling in his legs.
11:36Press Secretary Caroline Levitt confirmed that the 79-year-old is suffering from what's called chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when leg veins struggle to pump blood back up to the heart.
11:50Levitt said it's a common and benign condition for those over 70.
11:53The White House also said recent bruising on the president's hand relates to his, quote, frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.
12:02Overall, Levitt said the president remains in excellent health.
12:07Turning overseas, in Iraq, officials say a fire at a newly opened shopping center killed more than 60 people, including children.
12:16Funerals were underway for the deceased today, though at least 14 bodies are still unidentified.
12:22The blaze broke out late last night in the eastern city of Kut, leaving the mall an empty shell just a week after it opened.
12:31Local officials say the cause is still under investigation, but that legal cases have been filed against the building and shopping center owners.
12:39They've been offering no details yet on what charges they face.
12:42An Israeli shell hit the compound of the only Catholic church in Gaza today, killing at least three people and injuring 10 others.
12:52The Holy Family Catholic Church was sheltering hundreds of Christians and Muslims on its grounds.
12:58Among those wounded was the priest who used to speak with the late Pope Francis about the war.
13:04A funeral was held today at a separate church where community members mourned two of those killed.
13:10Today, we stood at the burial of citizen Saad Salama, who was a guard for the church, and Mrs. Fumia Ayad, an educator who was a school principal and teacher of generations.
13:24They were coming out of their prayers when they were killed.
13:26Pope Leo released a statement expressing his, quote, profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region.
13:36Israel issued a rare apology for the shelling and said it's investigating.
13:41The U.K. is planning to lower its voting age from 18 to 16 before the next general election.
13:48The governing Labour Party announced the move today, saying it's aimed at boosting participation in the democratic process.
13:55Critics say it's an attempt to alter the electorate in their favor.
13:59Roughly 1.6 million people in Britain are aged 16 or 17.
14:04That's about 3% of the population.
14:07The plan is seen as the biggest expansion of U.K. voting rights since the age fell from 21 to 18 back in 1969.
14:16If approved by Parliament, the U.K. would join Austria, Brazil and Ecuador in allowing 16-year-olds to vote in national elections.
14:26Back in this country, the Food and Drug Administration is allowing Juul to continue selling its e-cigarettes in the U.S.
14:32Officials determined that its benefits, as a less harmful alternative for adult smokers, outweigh the risks of young people using the product.
14:42It's welcome relief for the company, which has been blamed for creating a vaping trend among teens.
14:48In 2022, the FDA banned its products from shelves, but soon reversed course and agreed to a scientific review.
14:55The FDA's decision covers both tobacco and menthol-flavored versions of its products.
15:01The Steve Miller Band is canceling its U.S. tour due to concerns over extreme weather.
15:07In a statement, the 81-year-old classic rocker said that extreme heat, flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and fires,
15:16quote, make these risks for you, our audience, the band and the crew, unacceptable.
15:21Miller's tour was set to begin next month, with stops including New York, Florida and California.
15:28This cancellation comes after extreme weather events affected the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee in June
15:34and last week's Rock the Country event in Kentucky.
15:38And on Wall Street today, stocks rose after some better-than-expected economic reports.
15:44The Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 200 points on the day.
15:48The Nasdaq climbed more than 150 points to hit a new record.
15:53The S&P 500 also closed at a new all-time high.
15:57And the singer Connie Francis has died.
16:00Bet your bottom dollar
16:03You and I are true
16:05Cause the lipstick on your collar
16:09Told a tan on you
16:11She had more than a dozen top 20 hits in the late 1950s and early 60s,
16:17with songs like Lipstick on Your Collar and Who's Sorry Now.
16:21Francis started singing as a child and signed a record contract when she was a teenager.
16:26But her later life was troubled.
16:28She was raped at knife point in 1974
16:31and was committed to a psychiatric hospital by her father in the 1980s.
16:36Earlier this year, though, she came back into the public eye
16:40when her song Pretty Little Baby blew up on TikTok.
16:44Pretty little baby
16:46I'm so in love with you
16:49To say that, a song I recorded 63 years ago
16:54is a catapulted by a new generation of audiences
16:58truly overwhelming for me.
17:01Thank you, TikTok.
17:02She was hospitalized two weeks ago for extreme pain.
17:07Connie Francis was 87 years old.
17:09Still to come on the NewsHour,
17:11public media faces tough choices as Republicans slash federal funding.
17:17The IRS looks to share personal data with immigration agents as deportations ramp up.
17:23Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas discusses an update to his book about undocumented immigrants.
17:32This is the PBS NewsHour from the David M. Rubenstein studio at WETA in Washington
17:38and in the West from the Wofford Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.
17:47As we've heard, the House is moving to revoke a billion dollars in already approved funding
17:53for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
17:55the entity that steers taxpayer funds to PBS, NPR and public media stations.
18:01To talk about the potential impact on PBS,
18:04we turn to one of this network's most acclaimed and most watched filmmakers and directors,
18:10Ken Burns.
18:11The Ken Burns collection on PBS includes more than 40 documentaries on a wide range of subjects,
18:17including the Civil War, baseball, Vietnam and country music.
18:22His new documentary series,
18:23The American Revolution,
18:25is scheduled to premiere on PBS in November.
18:28Ken Burns,
18:29Ken Burns, so good to have you on the program.
18:32The federal government, as you well know,
18:34has for over five decades supported through CPB public media.
18:41That very much looks likely to end starting tomorrow.
18:45As someone whose work is so central to this network,
18:49how is this news sitting with you?
18:51Well, not very well.
18:52I think we're all in a bit of a state of a shock and also sort of reeling at the short-sightedness of it all.
19:00This is such an American institution trusted by people across political divides, geographic divides, age groups.
19:08And what's so short-sighted about it, I think,
19:13is that this affects mostly rural communities or the hardest hit.
19:17My own films probably get somewhere around 20% of any given budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
19:26That's a significant hit.
19:27We'll scramble.
19:28We'll have to make it up.
19:30I'm confident that with the extra work it will happen.
19:34But it's those projects at the national level that might get 50 or 60,
19:39maybe even 75% of their funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
19:43They just won't be able to be made.
19:46And so there'll be less representation by all the different kinds of filmmakers.
19:52People coming up will have an impossible time getting started.
19:56I think the first film that I made was broadcast by PBS in the early 80s called Brooklyn Bridge
20:02had money from CPB and from various CPB programs.
20:07And so there's a kind of pall that we feel.
20:10My biggest thing is I travel around the system all the time and I meet in big markets and small markets.
20:18And you begin to see the way in which, particularly in those small rural markets,
20:24the PBS station is really like the public library.
20:28It's one of those important institutions.
20:31It may be the only place where people have access to local news,
20:36that the local station is going to the city council meeting.
20:42They're going to the school board meeting.
20:44They're going to the zoning board.
20:46There's a kind of sense of local accountability.
20:49And as news becomes nationalized and even internationalized, there's a loss there.
20:55It's not just, they're not just losing the primetime schedule.
20:59They're losing also contacts with emergency alert systems and homeland security
21:04and continuing education and classroom in the air, along with children's programming and primetime.
21:11So there's a sense that this is an incredibly short-sighted move to do this.
21:17There are so many unknowns about how this will play out.
21:21I mean, the leaders of PBS and NPR and the NewsHour have said,
21:25we are not going away.
21:27We will keep doing our work.
21:29But given that there are so many institutions getting cuts,
21:34public education, public health, medical research,
21:38do you think that PBS writ large, public media writ large,
21:42will be able to fill this funding gap given there are so many other outstretched hands?
21:48Well, that's a really wonderful question.
21:51I think the answer has to be yes.
21:53We're not giving up.
21:54One of my films that you mentioned is baseball.
21:56And Yogi Berra said, it ain't over till it's over.
21:58And I do not think it's over.
22:01And I think we're going to keep trying to make our case.
22:03And I think the absence of us will be particularly pronounced.
22:08And I think people across the aisle, this is not a political thing.
22:12This is the most American of institutions.
22:15People across the aisle will be suddenly realizing,
22:18oh, I think we've gone a little bit too far and find ways to appropriate.
22:23You know, I've been working for the last decade on a film about the American Revolution.
22:28And one of the things, of course, at the heart of it is all of those great ideas,
22:32particularly the second sentence of the Declaration,
22:34which ends with, for most Americans, a kind of inscrutable phrase,
22:39the pursuit of happiness.
22:40The key word in that is not happiness, I think, but pursuit.
22:45And I think a lot of people have understood happiness to mean
22:48the acquisition of things in a marketplace of objects.
22:51But what the founders actually meant was lifelong learning in a marketplace of ideas.
22:57That in order to be this new thing that had not existed in the world,
23:01which is what makes the revolution such an important moment,
23:04we were creating citizens, not subjects.
23:07And it was the opinion of all of the founders that these citizens had to be educated,
23:14that education had to be part of it and had to be continuing education.
23:18Otherwise, you couldn't be virtuous.
23:20But I think we're all kind of committed to redoubling our efforts and making our case
23:24for restoring funding in some way, shape or form,
23:31perhaps in appropriations as we approach the new budget in whatever.
23:34It just seems like there's no need, there was no need to have to reinvent the wheel
23:39that I think we're now being forced to do.
23:42As you well know, Republican administrations going back decades have been trying to cut
23:47public media funding, alleging that there is a inherent liberal bias.
23:52How do you push back on that allegation?
23:54Well, I push back everywhere.
23:56William F. Buckley, a noted conservative thinker, had a program on PBS called Firing Line for 32 years.
24:05That program is still going on, is still moderated by a conservative.
24:09And so I think somehow we have to separate what becomes the ideological football of the moment,
24:15this idea, and it's a legitimate argument that the government shouldn't be in any way involved in this.
24:20So though every government on earth is, of course, involved in it in some ways.
24:25And then the fact that it is so woven into the fabric of our American community is such a patriotic thing.
24:33The brand itself of PBS is the most trusted in the country that I think we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater here.
24:43And I think we've got an obligation to the people who depend on us to make sure that we can come back as vibrantly as I know we will.
24:52We will continue to do it.
24:54We'll still have those programmings.
24:56But I'm still worried about that small town in Nebraska or South Dakota or Alaska that is suddenly really in the greatest existential crisis they've ever had.
25:07And their citizens will be bereft of the services that the public broadcasting service, not system, offers them.
25:16Ken Burns, always great to talk to you.
25:18Thank you so much.
25:20Since President Trump signed his sweeping domestic policy bill into law, one key provision which prevents Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving Medicaid funding has already been blocked by a federal judge after the organization sued.
25:43Tomorrow, Judge Indira Talwani will hear the first arguments in the case since she issued a temporary restraining order.
25:51Joining us now to discuss this further is the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson.
25:59Thank you so much for being here.
26:01As I mentioned, Judge Talwani has already said that she believes your case is likely to succeed in proving that parts of this law are unconstitutional.
26:10What is the argument you're making in this suit?
26:14You know, ultimately, this case is about the fact that this reconciliation bill is devastating to patients and entire health care system, all because of a decades-long plan to target and defund Planned Parenthood.
26:29We see our argument in our best case is to expose the naked attempt to attack and really punish Planned Parenthood, not simply for providing access to abortion care, which we know Medicaid does not cover, but in fact, to be a strong advocate and vocal rights supporter for abortion access across this country.
26:54And so we are leaning heavily on the first amendment to protect our right to free speech and our right to association, because we believe that that is a fundamental freedom that should protect everyday Americans who seek access to health care from the providers who fight so hard on their behalf.
27:14If, as you're saying, though, that Medicaid doesn't cover abortion, why was this so crucial for Planned Parenthood?
27:21I mean, what would happen if your suit failed and Medicaid was blocked?
27:27Well, in fact, you know, Medicaid is an insurance provider, as we know, for low-income communities.
27:33And half of all Planned Parenthood patients rely on Medicaid to get care.
27:38You know, Planned Parenthood is a part of the public health infrastructure.
27:41We are a safety net of safety nets.
27:43And so taking away access to Medicaid for patients who need sexual reproductive health care services in largely rural communities or medically underserved areas is devastating on the communities that are being served.
27:58Planned Parenthood providers, just like any other health care provider, deserve to be reimbursed for the services that they provide, whether they are being reimbursed under a program like Medicaid or private insurance.
28:10And so we think it is fundamentally unconstitutional to target an organization like Planned Parenthood simply because we support abortion rights.
28:18Conservatives have argued that this isn't about Planned Parenthood per se, but it's about the power of Congress to decide where taxpayer dollars are spent.
28:28Some of those legislators also argue that they just simply don't want any money to support abortion care, reproductive care at all.
28:37What is your counter to that?
28:38The way this law was designed was specifically to target Planned Parenthood as a provider and our associated organizations, affiliated organizations.
28:52So, you know, when you design a law that intends to just trap one organization, at best two, in it, that is really a targeted backdoor abortion ban because they know that by attacking the resources that Planned Parenthood gets for providing things like STI testing and treatment,
29:14for providing birth control, for providing, you know, for providing wellness exams and breast cancer screenings, those are the sorts of things that are being defunded in this egregious law.
29:26And access to abortion is really just a backdoor ban while they take away access to the other services.
29:32There was a recent KFF poll that indicated that 46 percent of Republicans in the U.S. oppose defunding Planned Parenthood, but nearly all the Republicans in Congress voted for the law that does exactly what you're arguing.
29:48How do you explain that mismatch?
29:50I think what we have is a Congress that has been heavily gerrymandered, meaning the districts have been designed to, you know, essentially elect some of the most extreme Republicans who are out of step with their constituents state by state,
30:07as you have seen in ballot initiative after ballot initiative, states like Kentucky and Montana and, you know, Ohio and Michigan, Kansas, states that that are purple or red at best, have all voted in support of reproductive freedom one way or another.
30:25But we also know it is incredibly close.
30:28This bill passed with just the bare minimum margin in both the House and the Senate.
30:32All of those Republican senators who voted to defund Planned Parenthood are now vulnerable in many ways because of their constituents that are going to be harmed in the areas that they are serving.
30:46I want to ask you just one broader picture question here.
30:49I mean, it's been three years since Roe was overturned.
30:52I'm just curious how you all are approaching this moment with an administration and some state legislatures that seem determined to to double down on these attacks on reproductive and abortion care.
31:03I will tell you that every single day, Planned Parenthood health centers open up their doors, right?
31:10The people who are truly on the front line of fighting tyranny, they walk through protesters, they ensure safe passage for patients into clinics,
31:21and they deliver the most incredible, high quality, time sensitive, life affirming care imaginable.
31:30I won't say it is not a challenge, obviously, to do it in a climate that has been determined to, you know, tear us down at every fight,
31:38to deny our ability to make the most basic health care decisions about our own bodies.
31:44And yet, you know, in true admiration, they show up because they know that when people are denied the opportunity to make decisions about their lives,
31:54you know, then they are denied the opportunity to determine their futures.
31:58And we know most Americans are with us on that.
32:01And that is also what keeps us going.
32:03All right.
32:04That is Alexis McGill-Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood.
32:07Thank you so much for being here.
32:19Today in Syria, violence continued between rival factions even after a ceasefire deal happened yesterday.
32:26Government troops withdrew overnight from Suweda.
32:29As Israel said, it would not allow Syrian forces south of Damascus, extending Israel's attempted control of that area.
32:37Stephanie Sy updates the situation and then looks at this new nation's fragile stability.
32:43And a warning, images in this report may disturb some viewers.
32:47Today in southern Syria, a massacre.
32:51Armed Druze militias chased, tortured and killed Bedouin tribe members, including women and children.
33:00An act of apparent vengeance after Bedouin attacks on Sunday escalated into conflict.
33:06The brutality comes despite a fragile ceasefire agreement signed yesterday between the Syrian government, the Druze Union, and local tribal leaders in Suweda.
33:19But the conflict is not just local.
33:22Israeli strikes Wednesday on the presidential palace and defense ministry headquarters in Damascus raised the stakes.
33:29Today, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the U.S. did not support those strikes.
33:37The United States unequivocally condemns the violence.
33:40All parties must step back and engage in meaningful dialogue that leads to a lasting ceasefire.
33:46The U.S. has supported the interim Syrian government, led by Ahmed al-Sharah, a former jihadist who has promised peace.
33:55Ten days ago, the U.S. lifted its terrorist designation on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, his former armed rebel group, now part of the interim government.
34:05And in May, al-Sharah met with President Trump, a day after Trump lifted sanctions on Syria.
34:11An array of groups hold sway in the country.
34:14In the northeast, the Kurdish-Syrian democratic forces, supported by the United States.
34:20And in the northwest, swaths of territory are controlled by Turkish-backed militias.
34:26Other opposition groups hold pockets of power in the south.
34:30And Israel occupies and controls the Golan Heights.
34:34Since the new interim government came into power in late March, instability has been rife.
34:40The nations, many factions and tribes have come head to head.
34:45In March, 1500 Alawites, a religious minority that once controlled Syria under the 50-year Assad family dictatorship, were slaughtered by forces of the new government.
35:00This after former officers loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad attempted a coup in Latakia, once the Assad dynastic power base.
35:12And while interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharah denounced the killings and vowed justice,
35:19his own government has been criticized for aiding and abetting Syria's instability.
35:23Today, al-Sharah promised to protect the Druze.
35:29I also address the Druze people.
35:32We assure you that protecting your rights and freedom is one of our priorities,
35:36and we reject any effort that aims to drag you to an external party or to create division within our ranks.
35:42But long-standing divisions continue to threaten Syria.
35:48After today's bloodshed, the Bedouins have already vowed another round of revenge.
35:53To break down the recent developments in Syria and its regional and geopolitical implications,
36:00let's turn to Hassan Hassan, a longtime Syrian analyst and the founder and editor-in-chief of New Lines magazine,
36:07joining us today from Virginia.
36:09Hassan, it's great to have you on the NewsHour.
36:12I want to jump right in to what triggered the appalling violence we're seeing in Soweda,
36:18where clashes erupted between these Druze militias and Sunni Bedouin tribes.
36:23What started this?
36:25So this was a long, simmering problem in Syria over the past few months.
36:31But what happened this time is that Israel poured gas into it, basically.
36:36Over the past few months, especially over the past seven months since the Assad regime fell,
36:42this is a regime that ruled Syria for almost 60 years.
36:48The new government controlled most of Syria except for four provinces.
36:53One of these is closer to Israel, and it's dominated by the Druze.
37:00And those refused to be part of the government.
37:03There is one Druze leader, backed by Israel, who refused, basically, to be part of the new government,
37:12considered it kind of an extremist government.
37:15And he refused to be part of that.
37:18And that was the source of tensions that kind of triggered many incidents of violence over the past seven months.
37:26Right.
37:26So Israel, though, says they are there.
37:29They bombed Damascus yesterday to protect this Druze minority.
37:34Do they have other reasons for why they would target Damascus and want to see this government
37:41that is still trying to consolidate and unify Syria, which isn't easy?
37:46Do they have other reasons to want that destabilization?
37:51Israel does, yes.
37:52So Israel has its own reasons.
37:54It has been concerned about this new regime in Syria.
37:59It regards it as a jihadist, a jihadist-dominated regime because the current president is a former jihadist.
38:07So Israel thinks that it has security concerns, that it cannot trust this new regime.
38:14They think that this regime, backed by Turkey and Syria, is basically a future threat,
38:21that Israel cannot just allow to stabilize the country and control the whole country for the long run.
38:29On the other hand, Hassan, the transitional government itself, led by President al-Sharrah,
38:35has been accused of its treatment of the Druze minority.
38:41And we just talked about in the piece about a massacre against the Alawites a few months ago.
38:47So in both cases, in March, when incidents happened or clashes between the Syrian government or pro-government forces
38:55in the Kosa region, the western region of Syria, and now in the southern parts of Syria against the Druze,
39:02or between the Druze and the government,
39:04both incidents were triggered, objectively speaking, by the Alawites and the Druze.
39:11But the violence perpetrated against the Alawites and the Druze have raised concerns about how the new government treats minorities.
39:24This is a real concern for both Syrians and for outsiders,
39:30especially that many of these atrocities, at least according to the government,
39:34are committed by pro-government forces that are, you know, tend to be radical extremists,
39:40and they don't follow the orders, the orders from Damascus.
39:42And yet there are a lot of international players, including the United States government,
39:47continuing to support the interim government and al-Sharrah.
39:51Is the violence that we've seen in the last few days, Hassan,
39:54existential to his ability to hold the country together?
39:58Personally, I don't think these, the problems in Sweda, with the Druze,
40:04or even in the coastal region with the Alawites,
40:07are existential problems for the new order in Syria.
40:10The majority of Syrians, they believe that the return of the Assad regime
40:15or a new order that's not Sunni-dominated would not be accepted.
40:20So I don't think it's an existential threat in that sense,
40:23except if Israel or the Israeli policy becomes a U.S. policy.
40:31For example, that's when Damascus starts to be worried.
40:35Over the past seven months, they, you know, the authorities in Damascus
40:40have tried to engage in peace talks, despite push sometimes, for example,
40:47from Turkey to attack the Kurdish, you know, dominated area and retake it by force.
40:55Damascus has tried to say, no, let's talk with them
40:59and kind of try to peacefully integrate these forces into the government.
41:05Even what's happening now, it's a mix of old problems with new complications,
41:10and then you have regional interests.
41:12What happened in favor of Damascus, the new regime in Syria,
41:17is that almost all countries have supported their stability,
41:22and the U.S., Europe, Russia, even in Iran and others
41:28will all have said the right things in terms of our interest in stabilizing Syria
41:35and supporting this government.
41:36But this government has to act and behave like a government
41:39that represents all Syrians.
41:41That is Hassan Hassan of New Lines magazine.
41:44Hassan, thank you for your insights.
41:47Thank you for having me.
41:47The Trump administration is starting to turn over personal data
42:01to immigration authorities to aid its crackdown
42:04on undocumented immigrants living in the country.
42:06The Associated Press reported today the administration is giving ICE access
42:11to data of nearly 80 million people enrolled in Medicaid.
42:14And a new report by ProPublica finds the Internal Revenue Service
42:18is building a computer program that would give immigration agents
42:22unprecedented access to sensitive taxpayer data, including home addresses.
42:28For more on this, we are joined by one of the reporters on that story.
42:32Christopher Bing is technology and national security reporter at ProPublica.
42:37Christopher, thank you so much for being here.
42:40Lay out for us what you discovered.
42:41What kind of data does the IRS have, and why does DHS want it?
42:47The IRS is really seen within the government as sort of the holy grail
42:51when it comes to data.
42:53It has a ton of personal identifiable information
42:55for the vast number of Americans
42:58and also undocumented people that live in this country.
43:00And that information includes home addresses,
43:03familial relations, employment information.
43:06It also includes information about their banking and financial situation.
43:09And so in the hands of immigration enforcement officers,
43:13it could really be a treasure trove.
43:15For people who might be surprised by this,
43:19people who are undocumented in the U.S. are paying taxes,
43:22and thus their data is with the IRS?
43:25That's exactly right, yeah.
43:26The IRS really encourages everyone in the United States
43:29who makes an income to pay taxes,
43:31and that includes undocumented immigrants.
43:33And there's a whole separate category for immigrants to file taxes.
43:38And historically, the way it's been viewed is that
43:41these immigrants would pay taxes
43:43in the hopes that it would help them in immigration court.
43:45It would show their life here,
43:47the fact that they're paying taxes,
43:49that they're following the law,
43:50and they actually viewed it as something
43:50that would help them in the immigration process.
43:52They never expected that they would then be used against them in this way.
43:55So you saw the blueprints for this particular computer program.
44:01How would it work in practice?
44:03Yeah, it's actually, you know, the system is still in development.
44:07But it is, the experts that we spoke to said it's quite crude in design,
44:11and it would basically just ingest a giant spreadsheet
44:14created by DHS and by ICE of their targets.
44:18This spreadsheet would need to have a few important pieces of information.
44:22You need to have the target's name.
44:24It would need to have at least the last address that ICE has on file.
44:28How complete that address would be
44:31is something that I think is still being figured out.
44:33It would need to have the criminal statute that they're being investigated.
44:36And, you know, so far from the discussions that we've had with our sources,
44:40it's been quite burdensome for ICE to meet this bar.
44:43And that's part of the push and pull that we're seeing internally right now.
44:46We know that Melanie Krause, the acting IRS commissioner,
44:49resigned because of details about this coming out.
44:53We've seen two other internal IRS officials, chief counsels, have been pushed out as well.
44:59How significant of a change would this program be in terms of IRS policy?
45:05The real number of people that have left as a result of this growing partnership with ICE
45:10is close to the hundreds, actually.
45:12There's been dozens of engineers that have left, lawyers, people in the privacy office.
45:17And many of them have left in part because they view this as unethical.
45:21But another part of this is that they actually see the legal risk in doing so.
45:26Taxpayer data is among the most protected and strictly regulated in the United States government.
45:32And disclosing it to an unauthorized party carries a felony of up to five years.
45:36So there's a lot of people who have left the agency,
45:39and that's a little bit unique in the broader Trump administration
45:41in terms of the type of pushback that we're seeing.
45:43And, you know, they're getting closer to launching the system.
45:47It looks like it could launch by the end of July.
45:50And so the IRS is unique in that really culturally people are taught from day one
45:56that you have to be very careful with taxpayer information.
45:58And for them, for many of them, this whole effort kind of breaks that ethos.
46:03What has the IRS said in response to your reporting?
46:06The IRS has been fairly quiet.
46:08The Treasury Department has essentially denounced our reporting, as has the White House.
46:13They've said that this is all legal, that this follows with the president's priorities
46:17to deport undocumented immigrants.
46:20And they said that there was a court that essentially said this agreement complied with the law.
46:27But that court did not review the blueprint that we have seen.
46:30And the court only ruled on the broad contours of the agreement.
46:35Your story notes—I'm going to read a quote from this.
46:38It says that tax and privacy experts, quote,
46:42worry about how such a powerful yet crude platform could make dangerous mistakes.
46:47What do you mean by that?
46:48What are the risks here?
46:50Yeah, the entire way that the IRS searches for individuals in its database is with an identification number.
46:55They have their own identification number.
46:57And that's where they can find that the CRISPing that they're looking for is, in fact,
47:00the CRISPing that lives in Washington, D.C., that is supposed to pay this amount of taxes per year.
47:04By searching by name, there's an inherent amount of risk there because there could be multiple people with the same name in a specific county,
47:12in a specific zip code, and you have the risk of potentially identifying the wrong person.
47:17And eventually, in the wrong situation, potentially having deportation officers show up to that address.
47:22And so the sources that we spoke with were concerned about that type of thing,
47:27a mistaken identity and of innocent people being caught up in DHS's dragnet.
47:31Christopher Bing, a tremendous piece of reporting for ProPublica.
47:35Thank you so much.
47:35While President Trump promised an aggressive approach to immigration,
47:49a series of new polls finds public opinion on this issue seems to be shifting.
47:55A Gallup poll found just 30 percent of Americans believe immigration should be reduced.
48:00That's compared to 55 percent last year.
48:02And a new AP poll out today finds just 43 percent of Americans say the president supports,
48:10say they support the president's handling of this issue.
48:13Allie Rogan spoke with one author whose personal story connects to the larger questions
48:18many are asking about immigration in America.
48:22Amid the public outcry over President Trump's immigration policies,
48:26Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas released a new edition of his memoir,
48:31Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.
48:35In 2011, he publicly revealed he was an undocumented immigrant and today is once again stepping into
48:42the spotlight to tell his story of how he left the U.S. for the first time since he arrived as a child
48:48to begin his process of becoming documented.
48:51Here to talk about the questions he struggled with and that millions of others may be coping with now,
48:56I'm joined by Jose Antonio Vargas.
48:58Thank you so much for being here with us.
48:59Thank you for having me.
49:00You have a new edition of your book out.
49:02Why did you decide to write this new edition now?
49:07This book originally came out during Trump's first presidency.
49:12And as you just mentioned, I actually had an opportunity last summer to take advantage of a
49:20process of a waiver and so for the first time to get documented, to follow a process that was not
49:26available to me before, I left the country for the first time.
49:30You went to Tijuana because you had to be outside the country.
49:33I had to be outside the country.
49:33And that was the closest place, right?
49:35That was the closest place.
49:36And Mexico was the closest place and they tried to come back.
49:39So I was at the mercy of the consulate in Tijuana.
49:43So I was there for about six, seven days and then thankfully got approved.
49:49And so now I'm here.
49:51You know, I'm sure everybody knows about the Real ID Act.
49:54So if I had not gotten this, I would not have been able to get a Real ID.
49:58And I fly all over the country.
50:00So not having a Real ID would have been a real problem for me.
50:03Let's take a step back.
50:04Many folks may know that you revealed your immigration status back in 2011, revealing that
50:10you yourself are undocumented.
50:13How has your life changed since then?
50:15You've written your memoir.
50:16You're now experiencing living in this country during this moment in the debate about immigration.
50:22The biggest thing, you know, I'm a journalist constitutionally since I was 17 years old.
50:28And the thing that I grapple with the most is how immigration is such at the center of
50:35our national dialogue.
50:36And yet most Americans know very little about immigration as a process and the facts surrounding
50:43undocumented people or what we call this administration, illegal aliens.
50:47So the fact that undocumented people pay taxes and contribute to taxes.
50:51And of help keep social security solvent.
50:54The fact that most states in this country do not let undocumented people drive.
50:59Texas, 1.8 million undocumented people can't drive.
51:02Florida, 1 million can't drive.
51:03So if we can't drive, how can we vote?
51:07And yet that lie.
51:09Never underestimate how a lie can organize people.
51:12And the lies that have been told about undocumented people, the level of mis- and disinformation,
51:19elected a president twice.
51:22And I want to ask you about sentiment, which is being shaped by this national dialogue.
51:27Some polls have indicated, including a Gallup poll, that this anti-immigrant sentiment that really
51:33has been percolating these few months has begun to die down.
51:39So where do you see it from your perspective?
51:41Has it truly?
51:42I think what we're seeing is the public finally understands what ICE does.
51:47So the fact that ICE is picking up farmers, the fact that they're picking up people who are
51:53taking care of kids, the fact that we are now are seeing what billions of dollars of
51:58immigration enforcement looks like.
52:00And in many ways, silver lining is not the right phrase for this.
52:04But something is happening that for the first time in the 14 years I've been doing this work,
52:09I have not seen so many people say, wait, this is not OK.
52:13And how many, what, $140 billion just got passed so that in the next four years ICE can do what
52:21it does?
52:21The question now is, as far as I'm concerned, again, having talked to so many Americans in
52:2749 states in the past 14 years, you are the media.
52:31You are in charge of the mis- and disinformation that surrounds you when it comes to this issue.
52:36You are in charge of stepping up, bearing witness.
52:39When someone's getting arrested in front of you, what are you going to do?
52:41And we're seeing that happen, right?
52:45At hospitals, at schools, at farms, we're seeing people step up and say, wait a second,
52:50that's my neighbor, that's my classmate, that's my co-worker.
52:53So in some ways, the Trump administration is breaking this.
52:58And it's so broken that finally we can actually ask ourselves, what does a solution look like?
53:04I mean...
53:05Let's talk about some of those solutions.
53:06You founded an organization called Define American, where you're working to reshape the
53:13perceptions of undocumented people in media, in literature.
53:17Tell me more about that work and how it's changing those perspectives.
53:21Again, such a journalistic point of view, which is we can't really debate an issue if we don't
53:26have a shared understanding of what the issue is.
53:29What are the facts?
53:29What are the contexts that shape those facts?
53:33And how do we be more responsible?
53:35Look, I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat.
53:37Again, I've never voted because I'm not allowed to.
53:39But when it comes to this issue, we are not on the same page about what the issue even
53:43is.
53:44So our job at Define American is, how do we tell stories that are accurate and they're
53:48humane, right?
53:50And I think that's been the big problem, is the inhumanity that in many ways frames what
53:55this conversation is.
53:56So that's what we've been doing.
53:58So if you're a Hollywood writer who's trying to make a movie or a TV show, if you're a
54:02book writer who's publishing a nonfiction book or a fiction book, if you're a playwright
54:07and you want to tell an immigrant story, you go to us and we help you make sure that what
54:12you're talking about when you're talking about undocumented Indian people or undocumented
54:15black immigrants, that you have all the information that you need so you can do this
54:19in an accurate, humane way.
54:22And in some ways, our own colleagues in journalism have failed.
54:26I have to tell you, whenever I watch the White House press briefings and a White House
54:31official says something inaccurate about immigration, I'm watching those White House
54:36correspondents.
54:38Why can't they fact check in real time?
54:41Why can't we actually say, wait a second, that's not accurate.
54:44That's some people do it.
54:46But for the most part, we just, the lies, the misinformation, the disinformation become
54:52such oxygen.
54:54It just becomes part of the air.
54:56Jose Antonio Vargas, thank you so much for joining us.
54:59Thank you so much for having me.
55:12And that is the NewsHour for tonight.
55:14I'm William Brangham.
55:15On behalf of the entire NewsHour team, thank you so much for joining us.
55:19The ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.
55:49And Friends of the NewsHour, including Leonard and Norma Florfine and the Judy and Peter
55:55Blum-Kovler Foundation.
55:57And with the ongoing support of these institutions.
56:06And Friends of the NewsHour.
56:08This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to
56:23your PBS station from viewers like you.
56:27You're watching PBS.
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